The Los Angeles Lakers blew a 26-point second-quarter lead to the previously winless Oklahoma City Thunder, and the NBA world is blasting the team.
Los Angeles’ effort level drastically dipped once the lead was established, which allowed Oklahoma City to come back in the second half.
Lakers legend James Worthy ripped the team after the loss, calling it the worst he has seen and that the players don’t have the right mindset, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“I’ve seen a lot of Lakers’ losses, this might’ve been the worst loss I’ve seen. It sucked that they have this mentality that they can’t finish games, and they think teams are going to just lay down for them, and they got to change that. This was really ugly. I don’t have a whole lot to say. I’d put them on Greyhound and let them drive back to L.A. and think about it. You cannot perform like that. You can’t be a Laker and play like they did tonight. … That’s a mindset. They don’t have it yet.”
“And if they don’t change something, and I know it’s early in the season and people say they’re going to get it together, but this wasn’t one of those games. They should’ve won this game, and it’s just the disrespect that they showed for Oklahoma by not being professional and finishing the job is not Lakers style. They got to figure it out. That last shot by (Malik) Monk, I don’t know what that was.”
This loss came after the Lakers went to the final seconds against the San Antonio Spurs, another game in which the Lakers allowed the opponent to catch fire and go on a big run. However, L.A. managed to come back in the fourth quarter to win, but that wasn’t the case this time.
Los Angeles has an easy start to the schedule, but these losses could come back to bite the squad.
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